The legacies of the repatriation of human remains from the Royal College of Surgeons of England

Thesis

The repatriation of the human remains of Indigenous peoples collected within a colonial context has been the subject of debate within UK museums over the last 30 years, with many museums now having returned human remains to their countries of origin. Although the repatriation of human remains is often characterised as the 'journey home', there has been a lack of consideration of the physical presence and mobility of the remains and the meanings created as they move through different spaces...

Expand abstract

Authors: Morton, S

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Museum geographies; Materiality of Human Remains; Museum Deathscapes; Unprovenanced human remains; Royal College of Surgeons of England; Return of ancestral remains to Indigenous peoples; Repatriation of Human Remains; Human Remains in Museums; Meanings and value of museum documentation; Memory sites and memorial; Absence, presence, agency
• Subjects: Royal College of Surgeons England; Museums--Documentation; Museums; Material culture; Indigenous peoples; Human remains (Archaeology)--Repatriation; Human remains use dead; Cultural geography